eli5: i read we have a heart brain, gut brain and head brain, what’s that about ?
In: Biology
I didn’t understand the heart brain thing but I think I understand what you mean.
Head brain : Your central nervous system with the brain, spinal chord and brain stem, it’s what makes you eat, think, sleep, talk and all.
Heart brain : Not so much of a brain, but your heart is autonomous. What it means is that it doesn’t need your brain to function, some cells in your heart fires kind of like neurons fires and the electrical activity they generate on their own power the heart muscle to function. In normal situation your brain also have a control on your heart rythm but people receiving heart transplant don’t have the brain-heart connection anymore but they can still live a healthy normal life and do sports.
Gut brain : The enteric nervous system : Implicated in digestion,feeling of hunger, muscle contraction for food passing and such. it’s kind of independant also but at the same time not really. In my early days of studying neurosciences, I used to tell myself “Ok, it’s like New Caledonia to France, France is the central nervous system, New Caledonia is the enteric nervous system : New Caledonia is mostly independant and passes its own laws but still receive help/inputs/directives from France and belongs to the EU”.
So while the enteric nervous system is kind of independant, it’s still under the close supervision and receive orders from the central nervous system.
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